Sony: Next-Gen PSVR To Be 'Dramatically' Different

SONY boss Shawn Layden has been talking about what could come next for Sony and PSVR in a few different places this week - here's everything you need to know, collected.

We know that Sony wants to upgrade its VR headset - the PSVR, whilst a very impressive bit of kit - is far from the market leader, and there are issues with the product itself that even Sony wants to address.

Sony boss Kaz Hirai once said that PlayStation was a business that knows to iterate and to evolve its products. At the time, he was talking about a Sony VR headset that was relatively fresh and new on the market - at a time when PSVR 2 seemed a long way off. According to new comments from Sony's Shawn Layden, though, it looks like we could be closer than ever to a massive new update to the virtual reality setup.

Layden, during his keynote speech at this year’s DICE conference, talked about the future of various Sony products... but one that caught our attention, in particular, was a reference to the future of PSVR.

Layden set his cards on the table right off the bat, saying it’s still early for ground-breaking new tech, explaining that “much of VR is one dot out, and it still feels experimental.”

That's not to say Sony isn't iterating, though - from the sounds of things, the research and development team at the company has got its head deep in some new ideas regarding virtual reality.

“We’re starting to see progress towards VR 2.0 games and software,” Layden said, referencing smash VR hit Astro Bot Rescue Mission. Astro Bot used the VR medium to redefine what a platformer could be, and to very good effect,” Layden explained. “A game of this quality arriving in the first generation of a new technology helps us lay a foundation for everyone to build upon.”

That new technology, as it happens, was pretty explicitly referenced in an interview Layden conducted with GameInformer earlier this week.

Layden hinted that the developments we'll see in VR hardware over the next decade will be 'dramatic'.

“By the same token, you look at PSVR right now, none of us are going to be able to imagine what it will look like 10 years from now, but the change will be that dramatic,” Layden said.

“You can’t get to 5.0 until you do 1.0. It’s just the nature of the thing.”

So it seems Sony has a lot of interesting surprises in store for us as we soldier on towards the end of this generation - and indeed the start of the next.